Goran Goci Bjelajac

I am a grand master of design (I have two master degrees) who is currently residing in Helsinki, Finland. I work as a design strategist. That means I do much more than purely making stuff pretty. I approach a problem from design, marketing and business point of view, helping companies innovate and guiding product development towards market success. I believe in thinking holistically, but still preserving lean development methods with quick prototyping and testing with real users.

Throughout my career, I have worked in many areas, from industrial, to service and graphic design, but I have also started a company where I worked mostly on the business side of the company. With this sentence I wanted to say that I understand business and what is a market share and CAC. To emphasize that even more, I obtained a minor in entrepreneurship.

Still, I am learning and developing. I started as an industrial designer where I received some of the most prestigious awards like red dot design award and D&AD award, then I did service design and project management. Nowadays, I am working mostly on design strategy, including branding and UX/UI design. In general if something needs to be designed, I can do it and do it well.

If you want to see my CV, request it by sending me an email.

Design guidelines

It is a business

Design is not an art. You can't just design something that you feel good about and exhibit it. Someone needs to buy it and actually use it. There are things such as production costs, market share, customer acquisition costs... For a design strategist it is vital to understand that and make both users and shareholders happy.

Do the Research

If you don't know something, there is always someone who knows more or a place where you can find more information. If nothing else, simply Google it. The goal is to learn as much about the topic as possible in the shortest amount of time. In the internet age there is no excuse for not having all the data.

Immerse Yourself

To really understand the problem that you are solving, you need to immerse yourself completely in the topic. If you are designing for kids, go to the kindergarden, if you are designing for homeless, live on the street for few days. Do whatever it takes to better understand the target users and their views of the world.

Do Things Quickand Dirty

Design is not perfect every single time. First prototypes are rough and ugly. It is pointless to waste time in the beginning to polish and make things pretty. That comes later. Much later.

Always Test

Every prototype, no matter how crapy it is, can be tested. Once again, design is not art and it is meant for people to use it, therefore you need to show them what you have in mind and ask for their feedback. You might be the smartest person on earth, but you will never know if your design works unless you test it.